Roland Yeomans - The Not-So-Innocents Abroad Novel - A Review

Steampunk, Floating Airships, and new inventions, oh my, with an entourage of characters who are invited for a one-of-a-kind cruise. Wouldn't you like to come along?

The Not So Innocents Abroad -Cover. by Roland Yeomans

The Journey begins

Sam McCord, Meilori, Meilori's henchmen, Ada, Abigail, and a young Tesla cross paths with vampire politicians, Captain Nemo, and other assorted villains in this adventure set in a time of exploration and new inventions. The original stated purpose is to take the guests to the great world exposition in Paris, with a few side trips.

However. . .

All is not what it seems. The airship is powered by new technology and Meilori's control. Sam McCord does what a Texas Ranger is hired to do, keep the peace or control the mayhem. Somewhat. This is a cruise meant to impress and to explore, but at the same time, it is a venue where Sam McCord and Meilori can rein-in certain revenants-the undead-and others who plan their demise.

Will the tour survive? Will Captain Nemo get his way? Will Sam McCord and Meilori be able to deter the plots set in motion by those who have gone to the Dark side? This is a book which makes you want to look over your shoulder for those souls lurking in your own past. . .

In Not So Innocents Abroad, Roland Yeomans has crafted another tale of a world we can only imagine, yet one which mirrors the real world in some aspects - one in which good and evil battle for control against known and unknown enemies. Plots and sub-plots entangle our hero and his heroine, but the demon alien goddess (Meilori) paired with her solid Texas lawman with a deadly right hand manage to survive, so far. . .This tale continues in Roland's next novel, The Not So Innocents at Large.

Underneath the tension of the adventure runs the never-ending, time-spanning romance of McCord and Meilori. I recommend this novel for those who like steampunk, adventure, history and the magical world which the author has created. This is a book which will transport you to those realms where anything is possible.

To learn more about Roland Yeomans, the prolific author, please visit his website, Writing in the Crosshairs, where you can view some of his other titles. 

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Are you a fan of steampunk tales? Have you read Roland Yeomans novels? Do you like adventure with a fantasy twist?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll respond. Thanks for dropping by! Hope 2017 will bring us better news and events than the past year! 

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Reference:

Roland's website http://rolandyeomans.blogspot.ca/ 

More info on Roland Yeomans as Author (from the A-Z authors list)
https://dghudson-rainwriting.blogspot.ca/2016/04/y-yeomans-roland-author-z-blog.html

THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD by Roland Yeomans

Not-So-Innocents Abroad is Not-so-much-a-Blog-Tour. . .as a change of pace


WHERE IS THE PUNK IN STEAMPUNK?

Image of the Air/Steamship, Xanadu

Roland Yeomans, here: reader, writer, dreamer.

Ah, the “punk” would be me.  I’ve taken history, sprinkled in bad girls, airships, and villainous former presidents/Civil War Generals – and tossed them like a salad. All done with a strong punkish attitude toward socio-political injustices like V FOR VENDETTA. 

Have you read a bit of history and gone: “That was just wrong!”

Me, too.

Take Sherman’s Bloody March through Georgia.  Read this actual excerpt from Sherman’s telegram to General Grant:

“Until we can repopulate Georgia, it is useless to occupy it, but the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will cripple their military resources.”

Or read Sherman’s actual orders to his officers:

“If a torpedo (mine) is suspected on any part of the road, order the point to be tested by a carload of prisoners, or by citizens implicated, drawn by a long rope."

“We are not only fighting armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies.”

“The entire populace must be ground to the dust.  Gentlemen, no consideration must be paid to the fact these homes are occupied by families, but all of Atlanta must be cannonaded.”

Or read this excerpt of Sherman’s letter to Secretary of War Stanton:

“There is a class of people, men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before we can hope for peace and order.”

Or consider President Lincoln ordering the most people hung in a mass execution (38 Dakota Indians). 

Their crime?  Fighting to keep their lands promised them by a prior treaty.  They were tried by an illegal tribunal.  Though they did not understand English and thus could not defend themselves or even understand the charges against them, they did not receive defence counsel.

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The punk in Steampunk springs from anarchy and a rebellion against society’s injustice to those who cannot defend themselves.

THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD full cover design

So just what is my first Steampunk novel about?

Here’s the back cover copy:

Come aboard the XANADU, the first air-steamship!

Experience 1867 in a way history says never existed!

Sherman’s bloody march through Georgia never happened.

Lincoln was never assassinated.

The Great Sioux Nation still exists.

The Reason?

Great-souled Samuel McCord, cursed Texas Ranger.

Join him and his alien empress wife, Meilori Shinseen, on their honeymoon

Above the stormy Atlantic ocean

With their friends:

Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greely, Ada Byron, the immortal Lucanus, Margaret Fuller, 11 year old Nikola Tesla.

With their enemies:

General Sherman, former President Abraham Lincoln, revenant Benjamin Franklin, crafty Thomas Edison,  Captain Nemo, Revenant Empress Theodora;

And the twin sister of Meilori Shinseen – Maija Shinseen.

Steampunk Disasters were never so much fun!

When I write, I often think of my novel as a movie.  Here is the tune I imagine playing over the opening credits as the Xanadu sails across a brooding sky towards adventure and mayhem.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Roland Yeoman's Blog: Writing in the Crosshairs 

Check out the blog and you'll see how prolific Roland is, and learn about the haunted jazz club, Meilori's, in old New Orleans on a certain corner. It's a nightclub of changing dimensions and clientelle. Be sure to look for Sam McCord, former Texas Ranger. 

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Have you read any of Roland's novels? Do you have a favorite? Do you like Steampunk tales? Airships? Time travelling characters?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and either Roland or I will respond.

Thanks for dropping by!

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